1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to heat engines more particularly to the use of heat engines in combination with various low energy heat sources and cooling and/or heating absorption and compression cycles and the use of heat engine working fluid to preheat a boiler and capture frictional and other heat loss from an expander and other pumps in the system.
2. Background of the Invention
In most of the developing third world, adequate supplies of drinking water and water for irrigation are a scarce commodity. In many places in Africa, India and Central and South America, adequate supplies of water are found only at considerable depth below the surface. These locations generally do not have the infrastructure to provide an electrical grid to pump the water with electricity nor do they have the infrastructure to provide roads to bring in electrical generators or even the fuel for those generators.
Therefore without an electrical grid, or without generators to generate electricity, isolated areas do not have potable water nor do they have the refrigeration to keep medicine or foodstuffs from spoiling. Even in the United States, there are communities such as the Amish communities where electricity is banned. Here the lack of cooling capabilities severely limits the production of various products. Because of the lack of cooling, milk production is limited to Grade B.
To solve these problems, it is an object of this invention to make use of an improved efficiency heat engine in combination with a variety of energy sources and absorption or compression heat transfer devices.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide for heat engine working-fluid heat recovery from an expander exhaust stream.
Also an object of the present invention is to provide for heat engine pump cooling using the heat engine working fluid.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for heat engine expander cooling using the heat engine working fluid.
Another object of the present invention is to improve heat engine efficiency by effective use of ground water.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for effective heat engine condenser cooling.
Another object of the present invention is to use the heat engine expander for electricity generation.
Another object of the present invention is to use a variety of heat sources for heat engine boiler operation.
It is another object of the present invention to use low energy heat sources such as solar, dung, combustion engine coolant heat and exhaust heat, and industrial discharge waste heat.
Another object of the present invention is to use an absorption cycle as a heat source for heat engine boiler operation.
Another object of the present invention is to use a generator-absorber heat exchange device as a heat source for the heat engine boiler.
Another object of the present invention is to use the absorber and condenser as a heat source for the heat engine boiler.
Another object of the present invention is to use a heat source for heating the heat engine boiler or the heating/cooling device or both.
Another object of this invention is to improve the operating efficiency of a close-coupled expander and compression heat transfer device.
Another object of this invention is to lower the cost of space heat and cooling using a close coupled expander and compression heat transfer device.
Yet another object of this invention is to use the superheat of a working fluid in a compression heat transfer device as a pre-heater to a boiler in a heat engine.
Another object of this invention is to use the working fluid from a heat engine to cool the compressor of a compression heat transfer device.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a dual heat-exchange generator for an absorption chiller system that enhances energy efficiencies.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual heat-exchange generator that utilizes solar energy as a main energy source.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual heat-exchange generator that utilizes fossil-fuel heating as a back-up heating mode when solar energy is unavailable or insufficient.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual heat-exchange absorption system generator that reduces initial capital costs of the absorption system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dual heat exchange generator that improves the environment by reducing absorption system dependence on fossil-based energy.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an absorption system generator that eliminates ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons found in electrically driven cooling systems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solar-based absorption cooling system that eliminates the need for backup generators during periods of reduced or non-existent solar energy.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an absorption cooling system that reduces the increasing summer electric demand for air-conditioner operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an absorption cooling system that reduces the amount of Greenhouse emissions associated with fossil-fuel produced electricity and fossil-fuel based absorption cooling systems.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following disclosure In which one or more preferred embodiments of the invention are described and illustrated in detail.